UCF football quarterback John Rhys Plumlee has been named to the Maxwell Award Watch List, presented annually to the most outstanding player in college football, the organization announced on Monday.
The Maxwell Award has been presented to the College Player of the Year since 1937 and is named in honor of Robert “Tiny” Maxwell who was a former standout at Swarthmore College and a renowned sportswriter and football official.
Plumlee was tabbed a second team American Athletic All-Conference selection last year and garnered AAC Offensive Player of the Week three times. He passed for 2,586 yards and 14 TDs in his first season with the Knights in 2022.
Additionally, he led all FBS quarterbacks in rushing yards with 861, scoring 11 TDs on the ground to compile the second most rushing TDs by a quarterback in UCF single-season history behind Daunte Culpepper’s 12 in 1998. Plumlee ranked fourth in the conference in rushing yards per game with 66.2 and helped UCF rank ninth nationally in rushing (228.3).
He turned in one of his best performances of the season against Temple when he completed 18 of 22 passes for a career-high 373 yards and four passing TDs and ran seven times for 37 yards and three TDs. The Hattiesburg, Mississippi, native tied the 35-yeard old UCF record for touchdowns accounted for with seven.
Semifinalists for the Maxwell Award will be announced Nov. 13, while the three finalists for the award will be unveiled Nov. 28. The winners of the 87th Maxwell Award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on Dec. 7. The formal presentations of the Maxwell Award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards in March 2024.
The Maxwell Football Club has once again partnered with Pro Football Focus (PFF) and Phil Steele Publications as selection committee partners. The Maxwell Football Club was founded in 1935 and is the oldest football organization of its kind in America. The Club recognizes excellence in performance at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of the game.